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Christine King Farris, the older sister of Martin Luther King Jr., and an acclaimed educator and civil rights activist in her own right, passed away Thursday at age 95, the King Center announced.
“The King Center joins the King and Farris families, civil rights activists, the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church family, academic family, and people of goodwill around the world in celebrating the life of our servant leader, founding board member, former vice president and treasurer, activist educator and family matriarch, the beloved Dr. Christine King Farris,” the center posted on social media.
King Farris died peacefully and surrounded by family in Atlanta, FOX5 Atlanta reported. No further details were immediately provided.
King Farris leaves behind a legacy of education and civil rights activism, having helped King Jr.’s widow, Coretta Scott King, establish the King Center after her brother’s murder.
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In 1944, 16-year-old King Farris followed in her mother’s, grandmother’s, and great-aunt’s footsteps by enrolling in Spelman College, a traditionally black women’s liberal arts college in Atlanta.
Christine King Farris left a legacy of education and civil rights activism. (Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)
She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and then earned a master’s degree in social foundations of education in 1950 from Columbia University in New York after being unable to attend the University of Georgia because black students were not admitted at the time.
King Farris earned a second master’s degree in special education and taught elementary school before returning to Spelman as an educator and director of the Learning Resources Center until her retirement in 2014 after 56 years.
Members of the King family, Martin Luther King III, Coretta Scott King and author Christine King Farris sing “We Shall Overcome” at the 36th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Service at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church on January 19, 2004, in Atlanta. (Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)
According to a Spelman profile, Farris King described her and two younger brothers, Martin and Alfred, as “three peas in a pod”.
Christine King Farris, far right, was the older sister of Martin Luther King Jr. (TPLP/Getty Images)
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King Farris actively participated in nonviolent demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement, including the Selma to Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965 and the March Against Fear in Mississippi in 1966.
In 2003, she wrote a children’s book about her and her brother entitled “My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
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Farris was married to Isaac Newton Farris Sr. for 57 years before his death. They shared two children, Isaac Farris Jr. and dr. Angela Farris Watkins.
Christine King Farris, civil rights activist and sister of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 95
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